Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion DC is learning faster than I expected

DS 5 has been in Kindergarten for just 2-3 months (49 days he would say). Everything has been wonderful. He is happy and we have been excited to see him gain his love of learning back at such a short time. Last year in Pre-K, ds was against doing any learning if he suspected it. Now he is excited to think, discover, and learn again. He was advanced by about 2 years in reading and 1 year in math and I suspected that he was ready to learn more in all areas last year but he was unwillingly to do so. When we got him into a gifted program I was hoping it would be a good fit for him. Indeed the material was just a bit challenging and he did balk at it at first. I think since he hadn't been challenged since he was about 3 having learned all the Pre-k/kindergarten skills by then). A month into school the frustrations lessened and he was able to do his homework independently and he was able to think and work out problems. For example, he would take 3 seconds to figure out a math problem whereas before he would have cried and said he couldn't do it because he had to stop and think about it. Now another month or so of school has gone by and he has advanced almost whole grade in reading and could probably finish all of 1st grade in a month if the teacher let him (he started at K math and was jumped to 1st) . Once they taught him what adding and subtracting was as well as how to count by 2,5,10s, and the value of the coins he pretty much knows the material well enough to move on. The work is not challenging him at all anymore.

1 year advancement in math seemed fine but now he seems ready to moved to second grade math and it iss only the end of November. He really didn't know any of the 1st grade math material before he started the year so I don't know how it all of a sudden become almost easy. They were able to accomodate his reading at 2nd grade level but now he is moving on to 3rd. He was already the highest in his class by about a year when he started even though everyone in the class passed the g&t test. I am worried he will lose his enthusiasm for learning and his ability to persevere. I felt like he had made such progress with that. Frankly I am much more worried about those two character traits than advancing in the academics. The science and the specials may keep him challenged since they are going pretty fast and in depth with those areas. I thought that once we got him into this program we could just let the professionals take over but now I feel like I am going to back where we started pretty soon. DS only scored in the moderately gifted for the SB 5 and the WPPSI so he's not even highly gifted. I figured he would be close to his peers in this program but he seems to be need more acceleration than them even his teacher seemed to be surprised at his pace. Has anyone been through this? I would love to know if perhaps it wasn't a problem at all for your dc or if you had to accomodate your children further. Thanks.

Big Leaps forward are normal, but they won't happen every 3 months. Check in with the team and ask for an adjustment. Look at Dottie's son, once he got to a fairly good spot, he might go 2-3 years without a jump, if memory serves.

Tests score are only an approximation of reality. When reality is staring you in the face, go with reality.

Scary, no?
Smiles,
Grinity

So true! We need to get that on a tee-shirt!

DeHe

we have the same pacing issue, which really makes me wonder about acceleration ever being a workable solution. It's good to hear it might just be a spurt. I also have wondered if it's just been going so fast while we catch up to where she really is.

To give you and idea of the pacing we've been going at, we've gone through Singapore math Kindergarten, 1AB and 2AB using only the textbook exercises, not the workbook. And that's taken about six months. We've only slowed down when there have been concepts she didn't already understand, like we had a month or two where she needed to really work on place value, then long division is holding us up right now (need more multiplication facts), telling time was a non-starter until this week, and she's having to concentrate to get multiple digit multiplication.

I think it is also a cyclic thing. Sometimes DD is just into learning, doing her math, leaping in bounds and then there are periods when she needs a little more down time and do some mindless things like spirographs.

And we have found that having the accelerated math works within a very diversified platform, that is in her grade. She has Chinese and piano as straight extracurriculars, does a science class at the musuem that is phenomenal, although her in class science is really well done. And they have Spanish and chess in her class also. For grade 1, it works. But not having the CTY math that challenges her, it wouldn't work. The math in grade 1 was so far unchallenging. Hence, my opinion is that accelerated math as a pull out works for younger grades. But I am not familiar with what is available for other children.

Ren

Some of the same issues here with math. DS8 is grade skipped to 4th and taking 6th grade math (Big leap for the district, with a lot of advocating on our part). Now as the nervous parent, I worried that it might be too hard, that he would behave like an 8 year old, and that he could not do the written work. Well we are three weeks in and now I ask maybe we should have asked for 7th grade. It�s hard to know sometimes. DS8 is not a 100% student; he is a 95%+ student, so you always question his placement. Also do I ask for more from a district that was against this last skip? I really believe that next year we will ask for Algebra 1. That will be an interesting battle. DS has asked to take EPGY pre-Algebra while he is in 6th grade math. I also augment with a math club, and will look at Zarcarros books. I really believe that having an easy A is not as worthwhile as a hard fought B. I gues you just need to adapt along the way, and try and find the best fit you can.

This seems common in the case studies in the math talent book. Years ahead in elementary, then one or two ahead in high school.

They learn quickly and don't need repetition. My daughter is now in 8th and she has been challenged only briefly - until she gets it. This is just normal.

My niece was extremely high GT and is finally having to learn to study - in med school Gross Anatomy - she is 22.

Once they get older, the problems get longer so they take more time.

Someone mentioned Singapore math. Perhaps I should just do a bit of supplementing at home? Is it better to do the textbook or the workbook? Is this a good program or should I supplement with another curriculum?

It's a homeschool curriculum, so it's supposed to be self-contained. In the absence of a curriculum from the school I like having that guidance.

You'll need the textbook to teach the concepts, the workbook is extra practice on top of that.